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“Her mother’s dressmaker, to be precise,” said Leonie

“Hortense the Horrible,” they said in grim unison

Hortense Doas the proprietress of Downes’s, the single greatest obstacle to their planned do trade

At Maison Noirot, the hated rival’s shop was known as Dowdy’s

“Stealing her from Dowdy’s would be an act of charity, really,” said Marcelline

Silence follohile they dreamed their dreams

Once they stole one customer, others would follow

The women of the beau e, if only one could get the sheep ht direction The trouble was, not nearly enough high-ranking women patronized Maison Noirot because none of their friends did Very feere ready to try so new

In the course of the shop’s nearly three-year existence, they’d lured a number of ladies, like Lady Renfrew But she was entleentry or newly rich The highest echelons of the ton—the duchesses and marchionesses and countesses and such—still went to more established shops like Dowdy’s

Though their as superior to anything their London rivals produced, Maison Noirot still lacked the prestige to draw the ladies at the top of the list of precedence

“It took ten months to pry Lady Renfrew out of Dowdy’s clutches,” said Sophy

They’d succeeded because her ladyship had overheard Dowdy’s forewohter’s bodices were difficult to fit correctly, because her breasts were shockingly mismatched

An indignant Lady Renfrew had canceled a huge order for ht to Maison Noirot, which her friend Lady Sharp had recommended

During the fitting, Sophy had told the weeping eldest daughter that no wo breasts She also told Miss Renfrew that her skin was like satin, and half the ladies of the beau monde would envy her décolleté When the Noirot sisters were done dressing the young lady, she nearly swooned with happiness It was reported that her handsons of swooning, too

“We don’t have ten months this time, ” Leonie said “And we can’t rely on that vicious cat at Dowdy’s to insult Lady Warford She’s a ht”

“We have to catch her quickly, or the chance is gone forever,” said Sophy “If Dowdy’s get the Duchess of Clevedon’s wedding dress, they’ll get everything else”

“Not if I get there first,” Marcelline said

An Excerpt from

SCANDAL WEARS SATIN

Chapter One

For the last week, the whole of the fashionable world has been in a state of ferment, on account of the elopehter with Mr Brinsley SheridanOn Friday afternoon, about five o’clock, the young couple borrowed the carriage of a friend; andset off full speed for the North

—The Court Journal, Saturday 23 May 1835

London

Thursday 21 May 1835

WAVING A COPY of Foxe’s Morning Spectacle, Sophy Noirot burst in upon the Duke and Duchess of Clevedon while they were breakfasting in, appropriately enough, the breakfast room of Clevedon House

“Have you seen this?” she said, throwing down the paper on the table between her sister and new brother-in-law “The ton is in a frenzy—and isn’t it hilarious? They’re bla wicked plots—and it isn’t us! Oh, ”

Certain members of Society had more than once in recent days compared the three proprietresses of Maison Noirot—which Sophy wouldestablishment if it killed her—to the three witches in Macbeth Had they not bewitched the Duke of Clevedon, rumor said, he would never have married a shopkeeper

Their Graces’ dark heads bent over the barely dry newspaper